Monthly Archives: October 2015

As all of you may know, and thanks to so many of your efforts, we’ve made a ton of progress in 2015, and as our $50,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund grant from the City has been approved by City Council, we’re going to rely on everyone’s contributions to get this next phase of our project built.

Please join us for our next Melrose Promenade Advisory Committee, Sunday, November 1, from 1-2:30pm in the upstairs area at Six Arms. We will discuss our implementation of recent funding wins, future event planning, and more! Please comment below or email us at melrosepromenade@gmail.com if you’d like to join us. We hope to see you there!

Hello fans of Melrose Promenade! Since the vision plan was revealed, the Advisory Committee has been busy seeking funding sources and community support to implement pieces of the Promenade (and regretfully neglecting this blog in the meantime). We wanted to give you updates on some progress we’ve made over the last few months.

Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant: We are pleased to announce Melrose Promenade is a recipient of a $50,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant! Sponsored by the Department of Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Matching Fund Grants are designed to allow community groups like Melrose Promenade to create something meaningful for their neighborhoods, such as improved public spaces and cultural activities. We will use the funds to implement part of the Promenade concept plan, so follow us here or on Facebook to stay up to date on when we’ll hold community engagement meetings to discuss.

We also want to point out that we were able to identify nearly $146,000 in matching community funds as part of our grant application. That’s nearly three times the amount of the grant, and includes cash donations, volunteer hours, and in-kind donations. Thank you, neighbors, for your generous and continued support! We truly would not be here without you.

Manmoon streatery: Earlier this year, the City announced the streatery application we submitted with our project partner Mamnoon Restaurant was approved by SDOT! What’s a streatery? It’s a parklet that the sponsoring business can operate as a sidewalk café during their business hours. And if you are wondering what a parklet is, you can learn all about it here. We can’t wait to see how this new sidewalk amenity further activates the southern end of Melrose and we look forward to enjoying the view along with one of Mamnoon’s addictive sandwiches.

New crosswalk: Have you felt a little more carefree while crossing Melrose between Starbucks and Six Arms? That might be because of the crosswalk SDOT painted in May! This important safety improvement is a demonstration of the power of collaboration to benefit the community. The crosswalk results from the long-time advocacy of neighbor Patrick Jones, with the support of local businesses, and from Melrose Promenade’s work to make our streets and sidewalks safer for pedestrians in coordination with the City of Seattle. Thanks to these efforts, this part of Melrose is now safer for pedestrians. Now we can’t wait to tackle the rest of Melrose!

If you have questions or want to get involved with the Advisory Committee, please email us at melrosepromenade@gmail.com, or send us a message on Facebook. We’d love to talk to you and hear your ideas for the gateway to Capitol Hill!

A Brazilian urban planning collective called Urb-i is scouring Google Street View images to find the best examples of public spaces that have been transformed from car-oriented streets to pedestrian and bike-friendly promenades. Check out the stunning before and after images in this article from Tech Insider that demonstrates the power of re-imagining public spaces, and then visit Google Street View to see if you can find some local examples, such as this one we clipped of 2nd and Bell in Belltown. We can’t wait until Melrose Promenade is counted among these inspiring examples of pedestrian-oriented public spaces.